Gray Delight At First Football League Hat-Trick

Andre Gray was delighted after his first-ever Football League hat-trick helped the Clarets to a 4-0 victory over Bristol City.

The striker netted twice before half-time and secured the match ball in the 78th minute, sweeping home Matt Lowton’s pinpoint low cross from the right.

And after going close this season on three occasions, Gray expressed his relief at finally bagging a hat-trick!

He said: “I’ve come close this season about three times but never managed the hat-trick and today I did.

“It was a bit of a relief to be honest as obviously we were 3-0 up at the time so I was happy with the win and the two but it was great to add a third.

“We know what we’re capable of and on Saturday I think we were the better team until Hull scored. It’s how the Championship is and it’s often the case where the first goal seems to be the main one, one way or
the other.

“On Saturday, they got the first and I missed a chance and they ended up kicking on.

“I’ve always said I’d rather be where we are now than at the top. It sounds stupid but now everyone is looking at Derby and Middlesbrough.

“You saw it last year when Watford were nowhere to be seen and they went on to get promoted quite comfortably.

“We’ll keep digging in and see what happens at the end of the season.”

Gray moved on to 15 goals for the season in the final home game of 2015 and he is hoping he and his teammates can now kick on in the new year, starting with Ipswich Town on January 2nd .

“We’ve got some big players now so expectations are high. We know what we’re about and we need to rise to that pressure. We know we can with a little turn of fortune.”

“Personally, my target is to score in every game and that’s what a striker needs to be doing. I’ll try that but if I stay at 15 and we get promoted then that’s all that matters.”